Episode 10 of David Tennant Does A Podcast With… features author of American Gods and Good Omens, Neil Gaiman.
In his conversation, which is candid, imaginative and intelligent, Gaiman talks to David about having an overactive imagination, his fascination with belief systems, writing Good Omens with Terry Pratchett, the rewriting process in television, the joy of collaboration, and his work in comics.
David asks about Neil’s style of writing, which often goes against what is taught at writing school – write about what you know.
Neil says: “You’re always looking at what you’re seeing and then it’s coming in and then it’s composting down. And then it’s coming out the other side and you’re planting flowers in it. But there’s also a level on which, when you write what you know, that includes interior landscapes too. And that includes ways of telling story that nobody’s thought about.”
He reveals he doesn’t think he was an over imaginative kid who loved stories and has grown up to become an over imaginative adult who still loves stories.
On writing Good Omens with the late Terry Pratchett, Neil tells David: “It was a huge deal for both of us. But he was absolutely the master craftsman and I knew how good he was, but the world didn’t… I [got] to do an apprenticeship with a master craftsman.”
If people stopped reading his books, Neil admits: “If you were to tell me tomorrow that I couldn’t do any more prose or nobody was ever going to buy another book, that would probably be my excuse to finally sit down a write a stage play… I have never really been the kind of author who likes popping out of the same hole twice. If I’m going to do something that’s a sequel to, or like something I did before, I need a completely different way of doing it.”
You can hear the full conversation in David Tennant Does A Podcast With… available now on Apple, Spotify and all podcast providers. A Somethin’ Else and No Mystery production.
